Does the level of sand in speaker stands have a noticeable effect on bass performance? I have a pair of Dynaudio Focus 140's on Dyn's Stand 4 stands. I have had them since February. They are fully broken in. I have both tubes filled full with sand. Will the bass be fuller if less sand is used. I use a Musical Fidelity a3.2 integrated and a3.2 cd player. I also have a Rel Strata III sub. Please limit your answers to the specific question; refraining from suggestions regarding amp changes. With two kids in college my upgrade wish list at this time is just that- wishes. Thanks for your input.

Well, I will give a scenario of opposite proportions.. I have used Granite and Sand loading on top of speakers in the past... Granite really thinned out and added some extra level of precise flattened soundstage... Bass was actually a tiny bit tigher, but lost some of the in room feel, so if you want a little more natural impact, than granite on top OR under the speaker was not the best musical sound in my opinion.. Accurate yes maybe, but totally enjoyable no..

Sand however on the top had a similar effect, however to not such a degree... Now that being said fact is if you don't fill the stands, than you may not have as clear of strength in the midrange and highs of the speaker due to loss of mass, however lets say you fill the stand halfway and give up some of the mass you might experience a Fuller more wooly bass sound, so yes you could take the bass to the point of extreme tightness and possibly suffocate that vibration sense if you want more of that.. this is just in theory of what I have mostly experienced, its gonna take a pain in the A$$ of some experimenting trying it both ways dumping and adding sand..

Maybe a Mix of sand filled in by some Lead shot to up the mass and not dampen the speaker stand so much could be a good option too.. Just put in the 5 or 10 pounds of shot and then pour sand over it to filter in between, and just add a little at a time or something and see what kind of tuning you find.

The coupling or uncoupling issue is as yet unresolved. I am getting a pair of the new Townsend speaker cradles which uncouple the speakers. Presently, I couple the speakers to wooden floors using special tiptoes from the US importer of Acapella and have IsoClean pucks under them. I have heard the decoupling is far superior. I also heard the improvement when Beauhorn came out with a base that decoupled the Virtuoso speakers.

But since you are going with a coupling, I would say that mass over a very small surface, such as with tiptoes would be best. I would therefore fill the stands. I would also suggest that lead shot would be far superior.

Not a good "opposite proportion" at all. The less filler, the more open area you have to resonate and the thin walls do not have attached mass and turn the area into a resonator. REMEMBER: thin & light material + rigid + vibration = a classic transducer. Just research NXT for more info on this. You cannot "tune" a speaker stand. It either creates undesired resonance due to lack of mass... or it is silent. The only way it could sonically "help" to have a hollow or partially hollow tube underneath a BIG vibrating mass (called a speaker) if is you actually ENJOY distortion and a steel tube trying to reproduce frequencies... but there is no in-between. I personally do not want a steel tube or other non-damped material to attempt to "reproduce" frequencies other than my loudspeaker :) You will get lower bass response by moving the vibrations to the floor, where the sheer size is able to help reproduce low end extension. Worst case is the floor won't resonate and you will just get the actual loudspeaker reproduction response... both a win-win.

Audiavreseller, sounds good in theory, but all floors do resonate. If you live on a concrete slab as is typical construction here, your speakers will be shaken by the trains going by. Mainly I find that concentrating the speakers mass on a fine point sounds best, but with my Beauhorns, their gel base improved the sound. On my Acapella LaCampanells, I am awaiting the new Townsend speaker craddles which decouple the speakers. I am told they do magic.

A heavy braced speaker cabinet will mean it matters least. Dynaudio are pretty good. The box should not flap around as it has a fair weight for its size. So it is probably damped quite well.

If you had Harbeth's this would be a much more important issue....what works best is a matter of choice. Many people like the warmth of a flappy box...so this is not a crticism. Dynaudio however tend to make precision type designs.

That is a really good point Tbg... If the environment has vibrations from outside sources, it could transfer more to the loudspeaker. This just keeps pointing to an alternating material decouple as the best scenario with environment in effect. Solid mass to prevent too little mass and turning to a transducer and decoupling to remove cross-induced vibration. Shadorne is also right; in that the better the enclosure, the more ability it has to contain the resonance it cannot control from passing into the stand to begin with.